Help Your Garden Grow With These Simple Tips

If you enjoy being outdoors, doing things with your hands, and having a real, tangible result for your work, gardening may be the perfect hobby for you. Gardening not only improves the look of your house and provides fruits and vegetables, but it also improves your own stress level. Read on for some tips!

Select perennials

Select perennials to reduce the amount of care your gardenrequires. Plants that return year after year usually require only a modicum of weeding and pruning. Edible perennials, such as asparagus, rhubarb, and sorrel, can provide an excellent salad addition for your household without causing too much work for you.

If you are new to gardening, be sure to keep it simple. Overplanting at first can lead to stress and a backyard that’s a mess rather than a beautiful garden. Also, larger gardens are more prone to weeds. Keep it small at first, and you will have a better experience.

Avoid chemicals for pest control

Chemicals are effective but can also damage your plants. You should look for natural methods instead. For instance, you can buy jars of ladybugs and release them on your plants. Ladybugs are natural predators for a variety of smaller insects that eat flowers and other plants.

If you are not a fan of wearing gloves when gardening but still hate dirty fingernails, try scraping your fingernails in a bar of soap prior to beginning. The soap will keep soil from entering underneath your nails, plus the soap will help keep your nails from cracking or breaking.

Consider adding coffee grounds to your soil if it contains high levels of alkaline. This is a simple way to replenish your soil with acid. This simple act can lead to vegetables that taste better and look more appealing.

Grow plants from seed

Grow plants from seed rather than purchasing plants from a nursery. It can be tempting to purchase plants that already have a head start, but it is usually not necessary. By growing from seed, you could find yourself landscaping your yard for under $50.00 worth of different plant seeds, rather than spending hundreds or even thousands of dollars at a plant nursery.

Do not give your garden too much fertilizer. Providing fertilizer to your plants allows them to better make food from sunlight. Too much fertilizer, however, can cause your plant to grow too fast, which prevents it from fruiting or flowering. The excess chemicals left in your soil can wash away and pollute the local ground water.

The best gardens will evolve from original seeds rather than transplanted items. Starting with your own seeds is more environmentally friendly than buying plants from a nursery. Most nurseries use a lot of plastic that is not recycled. If you want to buy plants, find a nurseries that uses organic methods or grow your plants from seeds.

As you read earlier in the article, gardening has a diverse set of benefits that make it a great hobby, from improving property value to putting delicious and healthy food on your table. If this sounds like a good way to spend your time, apply the tips from this article and start your own garden!